When he cast his gaze towards the garden, the scene of the area was naturally reflected in Klein's mind.
In the dark corner concealed by the flowers, grayish-white rats spun around wildly like they had been possessed. They kept squeaking as they attempted to push away their own kind and enter the core area.
In the core area lay a gray rat the size of an adult Loen Shorthair-a particular cat breed. Its eyes were slightly red like congealed blood.
Its tail was swishing about rapidly, seemingly in a bid to vent the irascible feelings within.
And whenever ordinary-sized rats approached, it would grab them and bite them to their deaths, causing rat corpses to pile up around it. But even so, this didn't stop the other rats from surging over.
Upon seeing this scene, Klein suddenly had two thoughts:
First, having his "intuition" boosted by the gray fog was a boon for a Bizarro Sorcerer's controlling of Spirit Body Threads. This wasn't apparent in open areas where the owner of the Spirit Body Threads could be instantly determined, but when inside a bustling city or a place with many buildings, Bizarro Sorcerers who lacked "x-ray vision" were unable to determine the owners of the Spirit Body Threads that bunched up from afar. It made it difficult to accurately lock onto an enemy unless they did something special, making them stand out from others. Of course, Bizarro Sorcerers could also ignore the possibility of collateral damage and just indiscriminately control their targets.
Second, the Marauder pathway demigod that parasitized the rat was already on the verge of losing control. Not only was it several times bigger than when Arrodes showed it, but its condition appeared very unstable. It was filled with a violent and crazy aura.
Thankfully, I came in time. If I had waited a few weeks, who knows what kind of tragedy would unfold... A thought flashed across Klein's mind as illusory black threads appeared in front of him.
At this moment, he was less than fifty meters away from the mutated rat, making it completely feasible for him to control the Spirit Body Threads!
And at this moment, the huge rat with slick fur noticed something. It hurriedly stood up and turned its head towards the kitchen.
A glint flashed in its dark red eyes, instantly leaving the young man wearing a silk hat and black suit pausing in his spot.
It had "stolen" the main thoughts of the antagonizer for the next two seconds, leaving his mind blank. Furthermore, it didn't do the follow-up actions that a Sequence 5 Dream Stealer would've done! Right on the heels of that, this rat raised its right forelimb and attempted to "steal" the enemy's Beyonder powers.
At its level, it was able to "steal" three Beyonder powers from the same target and possess them for two hours. Of course, one attempt was limited to one power.
At this moment, the gigantic rat's thoughts turned extraordinarily sluggish. The actions of it using its powers seemed to be bound by invisible threads, making it appear extremely lethargic.
Initial control of its Spirit Body Threads had been obtained!
Its success at stealing Gehrman Sparrow's thoughts and throwing him into a daze was merely an illusion -a Bizarro Sorcerer's Illusion Creation!
Before Klein properly began controlling its Spirit Body Threads, Klein had already switched places with Enuni. As a marionette didn't possess any self-consciousness or thoughts, it was immune to the Beyonder powers of Thought Usurpation.
How could something that didn't exist be stolen?
And in order to trick the Marauder pathway demigod, Klein had used his illusion powers which had experienced a qualitative upgrade. He had also deliberately made Enuni, who wore Gehrman Sparrow's appearance, put on the corresponding act.
At this moment, he was outside Macht's Moose Manor, his straight line distance from the gigantic rat exceeded 500 meters. However, this didn't stop him from controlling his opponent's Spirit Body Threads. This was because a Bizarro Sorcerer could gift his Beyonder powers to his marionette. This included the control over Spirit Body Threads—the core for converting a target into a marionette!
This also meant that if there weren't any other restrictions, a Bizarro Sorcerer could use their marionette and extend his control of Spirit Body Threads from 150 meters to an unlimited range. After all, as long as there was a marionette placed every thousand kilometers, he could rely on extending his influence by gifting his Beyonder powers.
Of course, there was no ability in the world without restrictions. On the one hand, Klein's maximum number of marionettes was fifty, and it was currently impossible to exceed this number. On the other hand, the only thing that a Bizarro Sorcerer couldn't gift his marionette was the ability to think and be self-conscious. Therefore, the limit of using a marionette to control a marionette was the limit of his control over a marionette—1000 meters!
Once he exceeded this range, the marionette wouldn't be able to do anything.
In addition, by gifting his Beyonder powers to his marionette, a Bizarro Sorcerer was effectively separating a maggot that was related to his Mythical Creature form. It was transferred into the marionette's body via the Spirit Body Threads. Unless he had prepared via giving the same marionette additional maggots, the marionette lacked the means of separating another maggot when converting a new marionette or giving the new marionette his Beyonder powers.
And at present, Klein could only split a maximum of fifty. Exceeding this number exerted a huge burden on his Spirit Body and produced signs of his soul fracturing. Recovery was impossible without effective treatment, and it was possible to not recover, even with excellent treatment. It would only increase the possibility of losing control.
Therefore, through Klein's experiments, the maximum distance he could control Spirit Body Threads was 1000+150 meters. And to be able to fully control a new marionette, it needed to be within 1000 meters. At the same time, if the marionette were to die, the maggot inside the body would return to his body according to the law of Beyonder characteristic convergence. However, there was a chance of experiencing a loss if the process was interrupted.
While the Marauder pathway demigod's actions turned sluggish, the rats that had previously been turned into marionettes rushed out from Enuni's side. They aimed at the garden and opened their mouths in a bid to use Air Cannon to cleanse the target's location.
Suddenly, a dark red glimmer lit up in the gigantic rat's eyes.
Instantly, Gehrman Sparrow appeared in the dark corner of the garden, amidst the dead rats. As for the Marauder pathway demigod, it had arrived inside the kitchen where there were plenty of items on the table.
It had "stolen" Gehrman Sparrow's position!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The marionette rats shot out their Air Cannons without being able to stop midway, hitting the spot where "Gehrman Sparrow" was standing. It left the soil splattering and threw the flowers into the sky. It alarmed the servants in the manor as their bodies trembled violently. They had no idea what was happening and could only frantically run for shelter. The entire garden was leveled by Air Cannon, thinning the layer of soil within. If Klein hadn't directed the attack in that direction, the manor's main building probably would've collapsed.
Amidst the flying dust, the rats were left dismembered, but "Gehrman Sparrow" remained standing there, uninjured.
Winner Enuni had just released all the good luck he had accumulated!
However, his control of the gigantic rat's Spirit Body Threads had been terminated as a result. And there were only a limited number of Spirit Body Threads. The rat marionettes were unable to interfere, for it might create pandemonium and cancel each other out.
Hazel's teacher, the Marauder pathway demigod took this opportunity to regain its freedom. Then, it turned around and raised its right forearm at "Gehrman Sparrow," instantly stealing his Beyonder powers of controlling Spirit Body Threads.
As a Sequence 4 demigod, it could accurately "steal" the power of the target. Typically, there were three options, and with better understanding, the higher the chance of success was. And this time, its luck was pretty good.
Of course, if the target's level was much lower, and if it clearly knew of the target's situation, it could "steal" anything it wanted.
Just as it lowered its right paw, the Marauder pathway demigod raised its left paw. The rat marionettes slumped to the ground and could hardly turn their bodies.
This was a large-scale "theft" that stole the rats' ability to walk!
Right on the heels of that, countless magical symbols appeared in the gigantic rat's red eyes.
It rapidly "decrypted" the puzzle and found where Klein was.
With a red glint, it raised both paws and instantly appeared beside Klein.
This time, it had "stolen" the distance between the two!
At this moment, the thin-faced young man in front of the rat vanished. Replacing him was a gray rat.
And around the surrounding trees, worms began crawling out as they opened their "mouths."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Air Cannons bombarded the gigantic rat and ordinary rat.
While Klein was controlling the marionettes in the Moose Manor, he didn't forget to convert new marionettes around him. This was, after all, a basic trait of a Bizarro Sorcerer. Then, swapping his body with a marionette, he had set up a simple trap!
Dust and soil flew high into the sky as the rat parasitized by the Marauder pathway demigod was completely inundated by it.
After everything settled down, a strong scent of blood emanated from the huge crater. There were pieces of flesh everywhere.
Dead? Klein looked at the blast-filled scene with the eyes of his surrounding marionettes.
However, he quickly frowned because there weren't any signs of a Beyonder characteristic appearing.
As his thoughts raced, Klein took out a gold coin and flicked it.
As the gold coin landed, scenes surfaced in his mind -revelations from his Astral Projection.
Compared to the past, as a demigod, Klein could use such a simple divination to obtain more information!
